Marianne Dashwood: When Money Rejects Love in the Eighteenth Century

In the introduction to Sense and Sensibility, Anne Rowe states, “The novel’s heroine, Elinor Dashwood, displays the kind of good sense which is regularly attributed to ‘prudence’. She observes closely, cautiously weighing up situations, and ultimately follows the most politic course without compromising her principles or hurting others. In contrast, her sister, Marianne, behaves with ‘imprudence’. She reacts on instinct, defying the consequences, and, as a matter of principle, refuses to act on a rational basis while failing to see the contradiction” (Austen, 1992, p. v). Rowe’s comparison between the two young sisters is respectable; however, Marianne is more sensible than her sister, and her actions are justified. This paper focuses on Marianne’s character to explain why her sensibility is sensible rather than imprudent and to prove that Austen shows her readers how Victorian women’s feelings, emotions, and desire for love were controlled by money, social barriers, and the patriarchal system. Marianne is a unique woman in her society because she seems to break away from the traditional approach to marriage. It is important to understand Marianne’s character in this way because she represents not only herself but also other women of her time who married men they neither liked nor loved.